The most collectable Pink Floyd's CDs are the Original Master Recordings (OMRs).
In the beginning they were printed as audiophile LPs, and they were later reprinted as CDs
on Gold leaf.
Unfortunately, in September 1999, the manufaturing company, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL),
did close forever, bringing both LPs and CDs at very high prices.

What are MFSL CDs?

First of all, this is the way MFSL CDs are created: when music is recorded a final
original master tape is created (whether the final destination is a LP or a CD).
From this tape, many other copies are created to be shipped to the factories that will use them
to create CDs. There is a small amount of signal lost in this extra step, even though it
is very low.
OMRs overcome this middle step, ensuring that the Original Master Recording tape is used to
create CDs.
As a "plus", a slow speed recording was used for LPs, in order to reduce the noise. With CDs,
gold is used instead of aluminium.

A big mistake many people make, is thinking "the CD plays better because of gold". Wrong.
CDs play better because of the direct transfer from the Original Master tape,
gold encrease only CD's life, which lasts 300 years instead of 30 like aluminium CDs.
And, gold is also a good marketing stunt, don't you think?

MFSL CDs and Pink Floyd

After this introduction, let's see what is most interesting for Pink Floyd collectors:
which CDs exist?

The titles available are 4, in 2 editions: Ultradisc and Ultradisc-II.
The first ones are made in Japan, the second ones in the USA
(some MFSL freaks could say this is not 100% true, but those exceptions do not
involve Pink Floyd editions...)

Last minute update! An American fan discovered
an Ultradisc edition of "The dark side of the moon" made in the USA!!!
Click here for scan.

Also, do not believe those who say that the first ones sound better than the second ones
(or vice-versa, depending who sells what), they are exactly the same, with a few
graphic differences. Ultradisc-II come with a kind of OBI, even though they're made in the USA).

Existing editions:

Ultradisc
UDCD 517
UDCD 518
UDCD 2-537

Ultradisc-II
UDCD 517
UDCD 518
UDCD 595

The dark side of the moon (standard and longbox)
Meddle (standard and longbox)
The wall (standard and longbox)

The dark side of the moon
Meddle
Atom hearth mother

(serial numbers do not change in any case: Ultradisc, Ultradisc-II or longbox)

Comments:
- The dark side of the moon and Meddle is available both as Ultradisc and Ultradisc-II.
The Ultradisc version is available standard and longbox
- The wall is available only as Ultradisc, standard and longbox.
- Atom heart mother is available only as Ultradisc-II.
No longbox versions of Ultradisc-II exist.

Now, you could say "only those?". Yes, that's all with MFSL:
4 different titles,
6 for real collectors (Ultradisc and Ultradisc-II),
8 for crazy people (Ultradisc, Ultradisc-II and longbox), like myself, obviously :-)
Prices? most expensive are the ones still sealed, not many still available.
Anyway, the range could be between $20 for an Atom heart mother used, to $400 and up for
The wall longbox sealed. All others are in between.

But, even though we have finished with MFSL, we can extend the "golden disc" concept to other
"collectable" editions. First of all, the bigger MFSL rival, Columbia/Sony with her "Mastersound"
series. Those CDs, derived from LP "HalfSpeed Mastering", brings to our Pink Floyd collectors,
2 titles and 4 editions:

Mastersound
CK 53753
CK 64405
CK 53196
CK 64426

Wish you were here longbox
Wish you were here
Roger Waters, Amused to death longbox
Roger Waters, Amused to death

Those CD's are also taken from Original Master like MFSL, are on 24k gold leaf, and are also
"remapped at 20 bit" (SBM - Super Bit Mapping), for a better sound. But what does
"remapping at 20 bit" mean?

Maybe, not everybody knows that information written on a CD is the sampling of a sound wave.
This sampling, as agreement between all CD manufactures, must be at 16 bit, i.e. every
point of the sound wave has to be defined with a "depth" of 16 bit, or 65535 different types.
This means that all CD players have been built to read data recorded that way.
But, with the Original Master available, and new technology increased, Columbia/Sony, decided
to re-sample it, this time with a 20 bit technology, giving a better depth of the sound,
and then "reduce it" at 16 bit before final CD printing (or "re-map" it).
This reduction MUST be made, otherwise millions of CD players around the world could not play them.
Sampling at 20 bit and reducing it at 16, "should" produce a better sound than direct sampling at
16 bit. As a Computer freak, let me express my doubt on that, it sounds like a marketing excuse
to ask more money for a CD, but the package is nice especially for longboxes, and very collectable anyway.

Now, still for crazy people, we are at 12 CD collectable. Stop? NO!

Also Japanese CDs, those nice editions with OBI (a separate article will follow on Japan editions),
have their Gold editions:

Japan
CP43-5771
SRCS 6762
SRCS 6766

The dark side of the moon
Wish you were here
Roger Waters, Amused to death

All three golden, all three ultra-rare, and the last two still in 20 bit SBM version. And finally...:

SMPT 3012-3.9 The Wall

An audiophile golden edition made in HongKong.

Whith this CD we reach a total of 16 different editions, that are worth more than $2,000.